Projects

Previous Projects

Director of Analytics at Leading International Ecommerce Company

I led the effort to build out robust analytics and business intelligence capabilities at Borderfree, a leading international ecommerce company, as a technical, hands-on manager, leader, and solution architect for client-facing multi-tenant reporting solution.

  • Led effort to conceptualize, define the vision for, design and implement client-facing multi-tenant BI reporting solution, engaging with both business and technical stakeholders to ensure successful delivery
  • Drafted 18-month Analytics Roadmap working collaboratively with business units to identify use cases, reporting and analytical requirements, capability gaps, and staffing needs
  • Authored project proposal and implementation plan for building out BI reporting and analytic capability; presented to the Board of Directors and received approval for investment
  • Hired and managed a lean team of data analysts and data warehouse developers to build out solution
  • Architected the multi-tenant reporting solution, including networking, server hardware, data flow, ETL and data warehouse (star schema) and OLAP cube design
  • Evangelized use of Pentaho, Tableau, open source technologies, and Vertica database within the organization, communicating the benefits of each to both senior management and IT teams
  • Recognized by CEO for solid results; received “A” rating on end-of-year Strategic Initiative Review (the only enterprise initiative to do so that year)

Big Data Analytics at Leading Social Gaming Company

I am currently working with a large social gaming company to help define their Facebook marketing acquisition and retention strategies, to build out a world-class analytics platform, and to develop a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) system. Using Big Data analytics databases (Vertica) and informational visualization tools (Tableau, Gephi), I have and continue to:

  • Research key drivers of user retention and adoption/viralization of social games
  • Explore and visualize intra-game social graphs using igraph/R, neo4j, and Gephi
  • Perform Facebook marketing experiments and influence the company’s overall campaign strategy
  • Spearhead efforts to implement CRM system, including drafting business requirements and data architecture, coordinating efforts with game and monetization teams, and generating senior management buy-in
  • Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics, including their underlying SQL queries, on user traffic, retention, and monetization for enterprise-wide and game-specific management dashboards

Marketing at Trucking Logistics Mobile Software Company in China

Xin Tian You (XTY) was founded by industry veterans with the vision to transform the Chinese transportation industry. China has 26M truckers, approximately 12M trucks (85% individually owned/operated), and hundreds of thousands of information brokers. Shipping and truck information market is highly fragmented, inefficient, and lacks transparency; return-trip logistics is problematic and costly. XTY created a mobile app that puts shipment info at truckers’ fingertips, helping them reduce costs and wait time for finding return-trip cargo. I traveled to Beijing to meet truckers and brokers first-hand, and working alongside my Chinese colleagues, redesigned their e-commerce website, developed and localized marketing collateral, and identified strategic risks and mitigations. I am currently helping XTY refine its marketing and business strategy.

Healthcare Consulting

Worked on six healthcare industry-related client projects as an Associate with Booz & Company. Representative projects included:

IT Operating Model for China Market Entry Strategy

Spearheaded technology work stream of China market entry strategy for large U.S. health plan, resulting in $200K project extension to refine target state IT operating model.

  • Facilitated discussions between business and IT teams to identify and document business needs, and to develop “Day 1” and target-state operating model for Chinese health insurance venture
  • Developed implementation timelines, business process workflows, and conceptual IT architecture supporting sales/underwriting, claims processing, service and fulfillment business functions
Cost Transformation for Health Care Provider Organization

Led financial analysis work stream for cost transformation project of leading home healthcare provider, identifying 15% in SG&A savings over 3 years.

  • Analyzed over 2 million general ledger and payroll records by developing custom SQL queries and reports to create client’s first cost baseline by support function at the enterprise level
  • Created project plan for cost baseline work stream, identified key client resources and mobilized client team members in data gathering efforts, resulting in timely production of deliverables
  • Presented recommendations (including implementation initiatives, roadmaps, and return on investment (ROI) analyses) to senior management team (CEO, CFO, CIO)

Research

A Multi-Modal Natural Language Interface to an Information Visualization Environment

Article published (International Journal of Speech Technology, Volume 4, Numbers 3-4 / July, 2001. (Preview article at SpringerLink) and patent issued for work related to research project while at Bell Labs.

Abstract. Domain experts frequently know what questions they want to ask about a data set, but they do not necessarily know the mechanisms of using an information visualization (infoVis) system for investigating these inquiries of interest. In our work, we are researching the addition of a natural language (NL) interface for bridging this gap between NL questions and data exploration within an infoVis environment. In this paper, we present our approach to integrating an NL interface into an existing infoVis system.We illustrate the power of combining direct manipulation with NL interfaces, and we provide a real-life example of applying our approach to the analysis of a large, complex data set.

Teaching / Volunteer

Workshop in Business Opportunities (WIBO)

WIBO

The Workshop in Business Opportunities began in 1966 in response to the absence of economic power in the African-American community. The founders, a Midtown marketing consultant and a Harlem attorney, felt that economic, political and social equality could be achieved most quickly and effectively by training and assisting minorities to build growing prosperous businesses. The founders recruited a volunteer faculty of twenty-four business owners from their friends and clients, each one a specialist in one or more aspects of running a successful business, to conduct the classes. WIBO continues to offer its first sixteen-week workshop, How to Build a Growing Profitable Business, throughout NYC. I led the Personal Finance workshop session in the spring of 2010, and look forward to volunteering again in the near future.

Cents Ability – teaching teens financial literacy

Photo of workshop

Started in 2004 by John Moore and Alexa du Pont, Cents Ability follows a workshop format to teach financial literacy to teens and young adults in the New York City area. Cents Ability obtained its 501(c)3 nonprofit status in May 2004. Since then classes have been taught at The Door, the Union Settlement Association, Monroe Academy, Washington Irving High School, The Chinatown Manpower Project, SCAN La Guardia, Harlem RBI, The Albert G. Oliver Program, and the John V. Lindsay Wildcat Academy Charter school.

I was involved with Cents Ability early on, as a founding member of the organization, and helped with marketing and teaching efforts.

Software Development

Chan2000, A Data Acquisition & Analysis Application Suite for Voltage Clamp Experiments

Faraday Cage

I developed a data acquisition and analysis application suite for Cornell University Medical College’s Biophysics/Physiology Lab. Lab research focuses on structure-function studies on ion channels, molecular determinants of peptide folding, and lipid bilayer-protein interactions.

Chan2000 first acquires and digitizes voltage signals from patch clamp experiments using National Instruments data acquisition instruments. Next, channel openings and closings (identified by step-function changes in current) are automatically identified given experiment parameters. Finally, channel lifetime values and histograms are generated. Chan2000 can perform (and analyze) both constant-voltage and voltage-ramping experiments in real-time.

Chan2000 has been actively used by the laboratory for the past decade.